Ryan, Wile Earn Share of Big Ten Weekly Honors
10/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Linebacker Jake Ryan (Westlake, Ohio/St. Ignatius) and kicker Matt Wile (San Diego, Calif./Francis Parker) of the University of Michigan football team each earned Big Ten Player of the Week recognition Monday (Oct. 13) for their performances in Michigan's 18-13 win over Penn State. Ryan was named Big Ten co-Defensive Player of the Week, and Wile was named Big Ten co-Special Teams Player of the Week.
Ryan recorded a team-high 10 tackles, including a season-high 3.0 for loss with 1.0 sack. He was credited with his sack when he forced an intentional grounding for a 12-yard loss to set up a 3rd-and-19 with less than three minutes remaining in the game. Two plays later, the Nittany Lions took a safety for the final scoring margin. Ryan's 3.0 tackles-for-loss are the second-highest single-game total in a conference game this season and moved him into ninth place on Michigan's career tackles-for-loss list with 40.5. He leads the Big Ten and is tied for 15th in the NCAA with 9.0 tackles-for-loss this season.
Wile made a single-game career-high three field goals and was 1-for-1 on point-after attempts, scoring the Wolverines' final 10 offensive points. His three field goal attempts were good from 45, 42 and 37 yards, helping Michigan erase a six-point deficit. After a season-long 45-yarder in the second quarter, his 42-yarder tied the game in the third, before his 37-yarder provided the winning points with 11:24 remaining in the fourth quarter. Wile now has seven field goals of at least 40 yards in his career, tying him with Jay Feely for eighth on U-M's all-time list.
Michigan has its first bye of the season this week and returns to competition Oct. 25 at Michigan State.
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